DRUMCOMPUTER Review
Sugar Bytes DrumComputer is an 8 part hybrid drum synthesizer with a built in sequencer. Each drum voice is composed of 3 drum synthesis techniques layered together. As other Sugar Bytes plugins, the UI is colorful and fun, they did a great job making an aesthetically pleasing skeuomorphic UI on this one. As far as sounds are concerned, I’ll be honest, don’t expect to get the best kicks out of this one, it is more than capable of producing kicks, but your range of control over their quality will be limited. Otherwise, DrumComputer is excellent at bright timbral drums, it can make great claps, snares, hats, and all sorts of mid range percussion. You’ll also be able to produce melodies and synthesizer sounds fairly easily, I like to think of DrumComputer as my “weird percussion sequencer”, as it’s not often my go-to for drum design, but more of a fun idea generator.
DRUM ENGINE: As mentioned, the drum engine contains three parts: a resonator, a synth layer, and a sample layer, these are fed into a filter, eg and distortion, with a send for reverb. The bell filter is my go to as it makes for a more complete EQ section, distortion comes in 2 flavors, soft clip and bit reduction which both sound nice, but some grittier options would have been appreciated. There’s a fairly comprehensive modulation system underneath, with 2 LFOs and 4 additional modulation slots. LFOs can be used as additional envelopes if you’d like, randomizers, the modulation slots allow you to route extra destinations for the LFOs, or sequencer parameters. Nearly every control is available as a destination. One thing worth pointing out is that each synth part can be used as a modulator as well, this ends up sounding a bit gnarly, as it doesn’t quite seem like things can handle audio rate modulation, but it’s a nice feature to experiment with for sound design.
Resonator: The first engine is a resonator that lets you use noise or the other two engines as an exciter. There’s controls for tone and decay, but the fun is in the “partials” dial, which adjust the amount of partials and their tuning. This resonator is really only capable of a few sounds, but it can get pretty atonal and colorful with some exploration of the partials control.
Synth: Here we get a little more complicated than the resonator, the synth engine can be set to either wavetable or analogue mode, with the ability to import user tables. I’ve yet to really explore the wavetable side of things, as I typically fine just a plain sine wave to be perfect for drum synthesis, but I imagine if you built a set of tables specifically for percussion synthesis it would be powerful. Note that many of the included tables aren’t particularly useful for drum synthesis. My favorite part of this engine is the FM/ RM, FM takes an input from the resonator, so combining the two leads to a wide array of sounds. The RM sounds great, especially with higher frequency tones, but is just a static depth/ pitch control.
Sample: The sampler section is neat, it contains a resynthesis engine, and a typical sampler. The resynth engine is interesting, it sorta washes out the sample into a blurry imitation. Decay seems to actually adjust how blurry it sounds, so shorter decays remain percussive and sharp. There’s a color control as well to balance the tone of the signal. One thing I just discovered writing this review, you can even import samples into it, not sure why I never noticed that. Next the sampler lets you import plain old samples, but it does provide a bit of creative input with a start position control and loop point. The looping can get pretty fast going into tonal frequencies, which is fun for glitchy granular buffer looping type sounds.
SEQUENCER: DrumComputer’s sequencer plays a big role in my fondness for it, there are far too few sequenced drum machine plugins out there that aren’t either completely sample based, or based on a classic analog drum machine. This sequencer is a bit more than just 16 steps that can be either on of off, you get per step control over velocity, pitch, decay, probability, roll rate, and even a modulation depth per step. each track can have its own loop length and time division as well, allowing for polyrhythmic and polymetric patterns. Between the ability for different lengths and probability, you can actually create some surprisingly generative patterns with just a single sequence. Furthermore, there’s actually 16 patterns per preset available, you can switch patterns with midi notes, or chain up to 16 in any order you’d like for longer more complex sequences. Finally there’s a little “remix” fader, which jumbles and repeats the triggers manually, or you can use the 2 auto modes to auto generate fills, but I rarely find these controllable enough to be useful.
If there was anything Id want added to DrumComputer, it’d have to be a simple effects sequencer, like in Cyclop and Egoist. I think this would add SO much to its capabilities as a funky glitch pattern design tool. With that said, I love running DrumComputer into Looperator, just swapping between various presets on both leads to endless results. In the mix section you get a one knob compressor and saturator, both of which are fairly dull and best left for subtle coloration of the mix. As with most Sugar Bytes plugins there’s a variety of randomization options, you can make random kits, patterns, and even a “smart” drum randomizer that can produce specific drum types and often times does a decent job at it. If you’re looking for something to replace all your drum needs, and be your main drum engine for every piece, you might want to sit this one out. But if you want something powerful and fun for complimentary percussion or experimental rhythmic sound design, definitely check DrumComputer out. I’ve made some of my favorite tracks starting with this one, so don’t be mistaken by my “criticism”. I’m less so critical of DrumComputer, and more so realistic about the things it does best.
If you plan on purchasing DRUMCOMPUTER from Plugin Boutique, please consider supporting me by using my affiliate link
DRUMCOMPUTER: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/7-Drum-Machine/5977-DrumComputer?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
and if you already own DRUMCOMPUTER or just want more presets, consider picking up my preset pack “PERCULATOR”: https://databroth.gumroad.com/l/Perculator